Monday, July 09, 2007

Still working

Well I just posted my first idea in a while. It's not that I stopped inventing it's I've been inventing stuff that doesn't go on here. What doesn't go here? Ideas I might actually work on (genetic immunity, or artificial organs), or stuff that I don't want the whole world knowing since some inventions/ideas in the wrong hands can be used for less than noble purposes.

Alternative, alternative solar energy

As my plane sat of the runway waiting to take off I realized that airports could take the lead on alternative energy production. Why?Cause they have lots of land! Sure putting solar cells in all the dead land might work. The risk of glare would likely be too high, and the cost would be enormous. So a more passive system would likely be better. My first idea was to put matte black panels filled with a low boiling point liquid to collect heat, but pressurize so that it can be flash boiled in a low speed turbine. However, that is costly and unattractive. The best plan is placing pipes under the taxi and staging ways as well as all the roofs and south and west walls. The concrete would then become the collector and with that kind of surfacearea and the right working fluid, a low speed high volume turbine could work. Now it might be a bad idea to have thousands of gallons of flammable liquid running under airplanes (many of the cheapest and most available low boiling point liquids are flammable.) So, it might be safer and more efficient to have water/glycol be the first media and use a heat exchanger to heat the volatile media to turn the turbine. Using this system could both generate enough power (or compressed ammonia) to substantially reduce the AC bill of the airport, and use the waste heat for potable hot water all while being very unobtrusive. Even in the winter especially if they change out the working fluid to something even more volatile there is still a lot of energy to be had from the sun. Or in the winter the airport could use the pipes to heat the surface and prevent ice from forming on the taxi ways, etc.
If the idea caught on and companies started using the heat from their parking lots, roads and roofs, and/or the various state DOTs put collectors under freeways and roads, we might make headway in reducing the peak generation needed to power (cool) our cities, all by converting the heat island into a resource.
We are stuck with the heat, why not use it?